


300 Kisses

by CurlyStar09



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: After Squip, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, boyf riends — Freeform, just these two being cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 22:04:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11953593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CurlyStar09/pseuds/CurlyStar09
Summary: Michael realizes the reason why he can't get a Switch is that he contributed to the "Buy Jeremy a Squip" Fundraiser. Jeremy promises he will pay him back.





	300 Kisses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sinuzaki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinuzaki/gifts).



> This is a fic for Sinuzaki who got me into this fandom, so this is technically her fault. I may continue this, maybe not, depends on time mostly. Let me know what you guys think!

Michael stood outside the GameStop, staring at the Nintendo Switch on display. He could feel the emptiness of his wallet weighing him down, preventing him from entering the shop. “Michael, can we go now?” Jeremy complained as he stood next to him. “The mall closes soon.”

“Jeremy,” Michael turned to looked at him, his eyes wide, “why am I so poor?”

“I’m in the same boat, dude,” Jeremy told him, as he looked around at the almost empty mall.

“I need it!” Michael exclaimed.

“Well, I would help you out if I could buddy but I used all my money on the…” Jeremy got quiet. For two reasons mainly. Talking about the Squip made him feel uneasy, to say the least, it had been months, and even though everything had changed since then, it was still hard to talk about the whole Squip experience with anyone, even Michael. The second was that Jeremy suddenly remembered borrowing money from Michael to buy the stupid squip. “Oh… shit…”

Michael looked at Jeremy and the pieces clicked into place for him too. “You. Borrowed. Money. From. Me. To. Get. The. Fucking. Squip.” Jeremy saw Michael’s face change from confused to realization to hurt. “I… literally gave you money and then you just left me!”

“Hey, I’m back now, aren’t I? You literally saved me from the hive mind computer that wanted to take over humanity.”

“Yeah… but it just means I’m out 300 dollars. Which means I cannot afford a Switch. Which means I am the biggest loser in the world.” Michael started walking away from Jeremy. Heading towards the nearest exit to the mall.

“Michael, you are not a loser,” Jeremy says as he follows Michael, trying to keep up.

“Says the guy that called me a loser,” Michael spits back. Jeremy heard the hurt behind those words, not able to see anything other than his friend’s back. He had no reply for that, so he silently follows his friend to the car, trying to think of a way to apologize.

It wasn’t until they reached Michael’s car, and got inside that Jeremy spoke up. “I’m sorry,” he turned to look at his best friend and saw tears in his eyes. “I am never going to be able to apologize enough am I?”  
“No, it's not-” Michael cut himself off with a breath. “I already forgave you… It's just hard you know? I’m still trying to convince myself that you won’t leave me behind again.”

Silence took over as those word sung in. “Michael, I’m not leaving you. Never again. You are the other half of my pair, right?” He gave Michael a weak smile, which Michael did not return. “I guess I forget, you know? I try to forget how horrible I was to you. I promise, somehow, someway, I’ll pay you back.”

“I don’t need you to pay me back,” Michael said, his hands moving around as if he suddenly didn’t know what to do with them. His sweat-shirt sleeve rolled back, revealing the scars that he tried to hide. Jeremy saw them and noticed a couple of new ones that made his heart ache. Without thinking, he reached over and grasped his friends, arm.

“I’ll pay you back if you don’t want me to pay you back in money, I will pay you back any way you want. Punch me 300 times; you get to be Mario 300 times in a row. Whatever you want.”

Michael looked at his friend, “Jeremy, it’s fine, let’s just go home.”

Jeremy looked at Michael, his best friend, the one that never gave up on him, and he got an urged that he couldn’t resist. He pulled his friend's arm that he was still holding and pulled it towards himself, and placed a gentle kiss on the scars that decorated his friend’s wrist. “Just, please, let me know if there is any way I can make it up to you.” Realizing what he had done, he let go of his friend’s arm and turned to look out the window, trying to hide his blush.

“Al-alright then,” Michael answered, in what he could only describe as a daze. He drove Jeremy home in complete silence with the exception of the radio. Jeremy still trying to hide the fact that his cheeks were red, while Michael was unable to forget the touch of his best friend’s lips against his skin.

~~~***~~~

Michael sat in his bed, running his fingers on the spot that Jeremy had kissed. He felt his face blush whenever he thought about the kiss. How delicate it had been, how unexpected, and yet, it had been something he had been wanting for a long time. Well, not exactly, he had wanted a kiss on the lips. Since about freshman year, to be exact, kinda, but knowing how Jeremy felt about Christine, it seemed better to just deny his own feeling. Better to have Jeremy as a friend than as nothing at all, right?

Then, with the whole squip fiasco over, he felt himself wanting to be close to Jeremy as much as possible. Wanting to reassure himself that Jeremy was there, that he was able to reach out and touch him when ever. It had been 5 months since then, and a lot had changed. Jeremy and Christine had broken up after 2 months, deciding that they were better off being friends. (Michael knew that it was because they both realized they had idealized each other too much.) After their relationship ended, it had been as if nothing had happened. Jeremy and Michael started hanging out all the time again. Michael was more than ecstatic to have his friend back, even more since there were no endless conversations about how pretty and great Christine is. Everything was back to normal, even the feeling Michael got every time Jeremy got a bit too close. When he could smell Jeremy’s colon without trying when he could simply reach out and run his fingers through Jeremy’s hair. Those feelings, the ones he always fought hard to avoid.

He thought he was back to where he started, ignoring the flutter of his heart whenever Jeremy was around. Now, he wasn’t so sure, he ran his fingers through his wrist once more. All of the sudden Jeremy’s words came back to him. “Whatever I want,” Michael said to himself as he lay down on his bed as an idea started forming in his head.

~~~***~~~

Jeremy had been thinking about what he had done the whole night. God, Michael must think he’s such a weirdo. As he walked towards Michael’s house, he almost convinced himself to turn back home at least twice. It was going to be awkward, he knew that for sure, an awkward evening in Michael’s basement. He just hoped that whatever game they played was a good distraction about what was going on between them.

Jeremy didn’t even have to knock on the door; he walked right into the empty house and headed for the basement. Michael was laying on a sofa with his headphones on, his eyes closed as he murmured along. A small smile formed on Jeremy’s lips as Michael started singing the words to a song he recognized, “Songs I can’t listen to” by Neon Trees.

Michael opened his eyes and saw Jeremy, “Jeremy! What’s up… bro?” Jeremy almost whined at how wrong that “bro” had sounded.

“Not much, you ready to play?” Jeremy replied. Michael sat up and placed his headphones on around his neck.

“Yeah, what are we playing?” Michael asked as Jeremy sat on the sofa next to him, making sure to leave a space between them, bigger than usual. “Apocalypse of the Damned?” Michael suggests, handing Jeremy a remote.

“Let’s do it.”

Their focus was taken over by the game, exchanging nothing other than exclamations and directions to one another.

“I need a break,” Michael said after 2 hours of playing.

“Come on, we can get it in the next one!” Jeremy exclaimed, turning to his friend. This made him realized that he had moved closer to Michael. Way to close.

“We have been stuck in this level for a while, I need a minute,” Michael placed the controller on the coffee table in front of him before leaning back into the sofa. He turned to look at Jeremy who was so close, if he leaned a bit to his left he would be resting his head on his shoulder.

Jeremy placed his own remote on the table, and rested against the sofa, making sure to scoot a bit, to leave space between him and Michael. He didn’t notice Michael’s expression falter for a second when he did this. “Fine, let’s take a break.”

There was a beat of silence before Michael spoke up, “So, yesterday…” He trailed off, and he noticed Jeremy shift uncomfortably next to him. “You said you would… do anything I asked for.” Michael let the words hang between them.

“Yeah, I did,” Jeremy responded, relieved for a second.

“Did… did you mean it?” Michael asked, turning his head to look at Jeremy.  

Jeremy turned to look at Michael, ready to take back his words from the day before. No, I didn’t, it was just talk, but there was something in Michael’s brown eyes that were maybe a bit too close that made him say, “Yeah, I meant it. Anything.”

Michael let out a shaky breath. His fingers unconsciously moving over the spot that Jeremy had kissed the day before. “Those months, when I was on my own…” he took a breath, and Jeremy couldn’t help moving just a bit closer. “I did something I had promised not to do.”

“I know,” Jeremy told him, “you don’t have to talk abou-“

“No, I do,” Michael cut him off. “I just…” he trailed off, slowly sinking in his seat, and letting himself lean to his left. His head against Jeremy’s shoulder. “I started cutting again… there was more than one time during those months that I…” Jeremy placed his arm around his friend as support, which one of them needed it most, he wasn’t sure.

“Michael, I won’t leave you alone ever again,” Jeremy assured him.

“What I’m going to tell you might make you leave again,” Michael stood up, trying to get some distance between him and Jeremy, but was only able to take a couple of steps away from him.

“Then don’t say it,” Jeremy blurred out.

“But-”

“Don’t, if it’s something you think may change things between us don’t say it,” Jeremy stood up, but was unable to move beyond that. “Tell me what you want me to do, anything. Just please, let things stay the way they are.”

“Jeremy…” Michael ran his hands through his hair, thinking how to put into words what he wanted. “I want… I can’t.”

“Michael, say it, or I will drink all of your crystal Pepsi.”

“I want you to kiss me,” Michael blurred it out. Jeremy’s mouth fell open, his face slowly turning red. “Not like that!” Michael tried to back track, “I knew this is was stupid, I meant that- as in- like friendly kisses. Like yesterday-I, you know. It made me- not like that- but like it felt nice. Not in any weird- just that it was. I mean, I- It’s not about… not in that way.” Michael started rambling.

Jeremy looked at his best friend, and he realized that the “incident” the day before had been the only sign of affection he had had towards his friend in a while. What an idiot, of course, Michael needed affection, he was feeling unwanted. Jeremy took the few steps that separated him from Michael, and he wrapped his arms around his friend. “Calm down, I understand,” Jeremy told him, and then he slowly placed a kiss on top of Michael’s head. “You just want me to show you that I care about you like I did yesterday.” Michael’s arms tighten around his friend. “It’s cool, I’m fine with it. I owe you big time, I shouldn’t complain. If what you want is 300 kisses from me, that’s what I will do.”

“Jeremy,” Michael tried to tell him, he really did. He tried to confess his feelings to his best friend. He felt the words, in the back of his throat, choking him to let them out.

“Michael, you don’t need to explain it. I understand you need support right now. Your depression is acting up. I noticed that yesterday, that’s why I did it.” Jeremy pulled away from Michael, just enough so that he could see his face, “everything is going to be okay. I’m going to be here for you.”

Michael couldn’t help the small whimper that escaped his lips. He was in Jeremy’s arms, but it wasn’t because he felt the same. It was out of pity. He found himself in the arms of the person he had secretly loved for years. All out of pity. He could not stop the tears that came to his eyes, and the sobs that escaped. He saw that Jeremy was starting to panic, but he was unable to stop.

“Michael, it’s okay, I’m here.” Jeremy wrapped his arms around Michael and led him to the couch. He sat with Michael leaning heavily against him as he cried. His arms around him. Brushing his hair with his fingers and wiping away the tears. “Michael,” Jeremy whispered to his friend when he seemed to be calmer, “do you want me to stay over tonight?” Michael was unable to reply. Jeremy just felt a nod against his chest. “Okay then. You are going to be okay.” Jeremy leaned forward and pressed a kiss on top of Michael’s head. Jeremy counted it as the second kiss, while Michael realized he had 298 kisses left.

~~~***~~~

Jeremy woke up on Michael’s bed. The first thing he noticed was that his head was on Michael’s chest. The second thing he noticed was the fact that he could hear his friend’s heartbeat, which made him relax almost immediately against him. He looks towards Michael’s alarm clock, it was almost 9 am. Good thing it was Sunday and they had nowhere they needed to be.

Jeremy stayed where he was for a while, enjoying the scent that he could only describe as Michael. He hadn’t been this close before, at least not without being self-conscious. He never realized how much he enjoyed being so close to Michael. He rearranged himself in order to be a bit closer to the middle of Michael’s chest, wrapping his arms around Michael’s belly. He looked up at Michael’s sleeping face, and he felt an urge to get closer to Michael’s lips. To press his lips against his sleeping friend. To wake him up with a kiss.

Jeremy sat up as soon as the thought enters his mind. What was he thinking? This was Michael, his best friend. He had to stop himself from having these impulses. Maybe it was because of Christine. After the breakup with her, he had found himself in a bit of a weird place. He had not been able to make it work with the girl he had crushed on for so long. The whole relationship had seemed… empty.  He had started to feel as if there was no one out there for him. Then Michael had been so supportive and been there through the whole thing. God was Jeremy an idiot. Michael was the greatest friend he could have asked for. He could never forgive himself for what he had done to his friend.

Jeremy thought about it and realized that the only reason he wanted to kiss Michael was that he was the only one person that had been there for him through everything. Jeremy leaned down and kissed Michael on his cheek. “Oh god, what did I do,” Jeremy moved as far from Michael as possible. He then remembered what he told Michael; about the kisses, he would give him to help him out of his depression. Convincing himself that that was the reason he had done it.

Jeremy went over to Michael, who was sleeping soundly and placed a kiss on Michael’s chin. Michael stirred, and Jeremy smiled to himself and leaned in to give Michael another kiss. This time pressing his lips against Michael’s check for a bit longer. “Michael, wake up. Let’s go get some breakfast.”

“I don’t want to get up,” Michael rolled over and pressed his face into his pillow.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Michael, come on.” Jeremy leaned down and kissed the back of Michael’s neck. “Time to get up.”

Michael turned his head in order to look at Jeremy, “Why. Why do I need to get up? It’s Sunday.”

“Because if you don’t I’m going to complain about being hungry and won’t let you go back to sleep,” Jeremy replied. He looked at Michael’s hair that was sticking up in odd places. Michael pouted, and Jeremy felt yet another impulse, but he pushed it down before he acted on it. Instead, he extended his hand and tried to soften the most rebellious strands of hair. Michael leaned in towards the touch.

“Fine, I’m going,” Michael said, “just five more minutes.” Michael wrapped his arms around Jeremy’s torso and burry his head on his chest. “Please don’t make me get up.”

“Michael, I’ll make pancakes,” Jeremy whispered.

“I’m up,” Michael let go of Jeremy and was up on his feet in two seconds. “I want chocolate chips on my pancakes.”

“Fine, let’s go,” Jeremy got up and stood in front of Michael, leaning down to give him a kiss on his forehead. He grabbed Michael’s hand and started pulling him towards the kitchen.

~~~***~~~

Michael was trying to convince himself this was all real. He woke up with Jeremy next to him. With Jeremy kissing him awake. He was trying to wake himself from this wonderful dream before he could become too attached to it. It was too good, seeing Jeremy throwing ingredients together in a mixing bowl, smiling and talking to him. Michael was more than happy to be at this moment, but a voice in the back of his head reminded him that it wasn’t going to last.

“Can I ask you something?” Michael blurred it out.

“Sure you can,” Jeremy replied as he threw some chocolate chips into the batter.

Michael hesitated, “Can you… kiss me please?”

“Um… yeah. Sure,” Jeremy went up to Michael. Michael saw that Jeremy was about to kiss him on his forehead. Michael could not help but feel disappointed as Jeremy’s lips softly brushed against his forehead. That is how Michael was sure that he was awake, there were still very clear boundaries between his best friend and himself.

Michael just sat down at one of the stools by the kitchen island. His parents were out early, no idea for what, but he was glad nobody was witnessing how big of an idiot he was being. Jeremy kept cooking the pancakes, while Michael lost himself in watching him. “Can you put some music on?” Jeremy’s voice jerked Michael out of his trance.

“Sure. Anything in particular?” Michael asked, taking his phone out.

“Anything, I trust your music taste,” Jeremy smiled at Michael before adding, “for the most part.”

“I have fabulous music taste, Jer, and you know it,” Michael retorted while pushing shuffle on his Spotify library.

“Do I really?” Jeremy teased, moving the first finished pancake onto a plate.

Michael was about to reply, but then he heard the first few notes to “I’m Gonna Be” by The Proclaimers. He turned to look at Jeremy, and when their eyes locked, they knew there was only one thing to do.

“When I wake up, well I know I’m gonna be, I’m going to be the man that wakes up next to you,” they both started singing along. Each one of them trying to do ridiculous dance moves as possible, trying to make the other mess up.

Michael got up from his seat and started doing the running man while singing in a completely serious face, “But I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who falls down at your door.”

Jeremy could not contain himself anymore and started laughing. “That is just sad,” Michael grinned at him, “you only made it to the first chorus.”

“What can I say? You always know how to make me laugh,” Jeremy said, as he turned back to the pan on the stove. Michael was glad Jeremy had turned around and couldn’t see how red his face was from that comment.

“So- umm… what are your plans for today?” Michael asked when he was sure his face was back to almost normal.

“I’m not sure,” Jeremy replied, “I told my dad I was going to hang out with you- I mean if you want to…”

Michael’s heart skipped a beat, “Yeah, no problem.”

They eat their breakfast while listening to Michael’s music. Jeremy teasing him about that song or another while Michael defended his music taste. They did the dishes together, Michael trying to ignore how close they were to each other. How their hands kept touching.

“Want to go to the basement?” Jeremy asked as they finished cleaning the kitchen.

“I kinda want to go back to bed, but sure,” Michael lamented as he leads the way.

When they got to the basement, Jeremy jumps onto the couch, laying across its full length.   
“The fuck Jer. Where am I supposed to sit?” Michael tried to be mad but he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Don’t know.”

“Fine.” Michael second-guessed himself briefly before walking over to the couch and laying on top of Jeremy. His head on Jeremy’s shoulder, trying to place as much of his weight on the back of the sofa. Jeremy immediately wrapped his arms around Michael, as if it was the most natural thing to do. One of his hands found its way to Michael’s hair.

“You comfy?” Jeremy asked. Michael could hear the smile in his voice. Michael murmured in agreement. “Do you want to take your glasses off?”

“Yes, please,” Michael said, as he reached up for his glasses, but Jeremy was already taking them off carefully. He then placed them on the coffee table. “Thanks,” Michael told him in a daze when Jeremy’s hand made it to his hair once more.

“No problem,” Jeremy smiled, breathing in Michael’s scent.

“I could fall asleep like this,” Michael blurred.

“Me too,” Jeremy admitted.

Michael felt his heart beating against his throat. Maybe, just maybe, he should say something to Jeremy. He could hear Jeremy’s steady heart beating, nothing like the nervous quick beating his was doing.

“Jeremy?” Michael started, breathing deeply to calm himself. “I have to tell you something…” His hands grabbed on to Jeremy tightly.

Jeremy shifted, slowly turning so that he could be side by side with Michael on the sofa. “Michael, what’s wrong?” He pushed some hair away from Michael’s eyes, why hadn’t he ever noticed how big those brown eyes were? Without allowing himself to think about it too much, he leaned over and kissed Michael on his forehead.

Michael looked at Jeremy, who was a bit blurry since he didn’t have his glasses. Maybe it was the fact that he couldn’t see him clearly or the fact that electricity was still flowing through him due to the kiss. Michael reached out with one hand and stopped Jeremy from leaning his head back. He then ran his thumb over Jeremy’s lips before leaning in and touching them with his own.

Michael felt Jeremy let out a small gasp of surprise before leaning in the kiss, before pulling back. “Mi-Michael?” Jeremy breathes his name, and Michael heard nothing other than shock.

“I- I’m sorry,” he told his best friend before getting up from the sofa as fast as he could. “Please forget that happened. Please.” Michael took his glasses from the table and was running his hands through his hair, trying to make himself calm down.

“Michael.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Michael couldn’t stop apologizing. “Leave, please leave.”

“Are you-”

“Just leave, Jeremy!” Michael screamed. Jeremy looked at him, eyes wide; he felt an ache in his heart.

“Not until you tell me why you want me to leave,” Jeremy responded, stepping towards Michael.

“You- you don’t want to be here,” Michael told him, wiping tears with the back of his hands.

“If I didn’t want to be here I would be,” Jeremy was standing in front of Michael.

“You hate me, don’t you? For what I just did,” Michael couldn’t bring himself to look at Jeremy, so he took a step back.

“I could never hate you, Michael,” Jeremy said softly, taking a step towards Michael.

Michael kept stepping back, and Jeremy matched his steps until Michael reached the wall and had nowhere else to run.

“Michael,” Jeremy placed his hand on the side of Michael’s face, “look at me.”

Michael lifted his face and saw Jeremy’s eyes full of concern, and something he hadn’t seen before. “I’m sorry,” he choked out.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Jeremy told him. He leaned down to meet his lips with Michael’s own. This is what he had been missing; this is what he had been craving. Christine had just been an idealization, something this distracting him from this. From Michael. His Michael. Jeremy kissed him slowly, and carefully as if he was afraid that he would hurt Michael.

Michael kissed him back, slowly raising shaking hands up so that he could pull Jeremy towards him. So that he could run his fingers through his hair. The kiss turns more desperate then as if both of them were trying to make up the years they hadn’t done this. Jeremy pushed Michael harder against the wall, making him moan against his mouth. His hands landed on Michael’s hips as he kept him in place.

Michael broke away from the kiss, resting his forehead against Jeremy’s.

“What’s wrong?” Jeremy questioned, hyper aware that what he may be doing could be wrong. What if he doesn’t want this?

Michael saw the worry pass through Jeremy’s face, smiling to ease his worry. “Nothing, I just can’t believe this,” Michael let out a laugh that warmed Jeremy up.

“Me neither,” Jeremy told him, leaning down to kiss Michael’s neck.

“I love you,” Michael blurred.

Jeremy pulled back, looking straight at his best friend, or was it, boyfriend, now?

“I- you can forget I said tha-” Jeremy cut Michael off with a kiss.

“I love you, too Michael, I was so blind to not see it before now,” Jeremy wrapped his arms around Michael, pulling him into a hug. “I’m so sorry for everything I did- everything that must have hurt you. Oh, god, I must have hurt you so much.”

“Yeah you did,” Michael told him.

“I’m sorry,” Jeremy replied immediately, feeling like the worst person to ever live.

“You can make it up to me,” Michael said with a grin. “Let’s start with those 300 kisses you still owe me.”

Jeremy leaned down to kiss Michael, “As many as you want.”


End file.
